Apart from gastronomic issues, the Gambia’s military is also in the throes of locomotion challenges.
The country’s army could be said to be worse of now than the Jawara era, in food and transport terms.
At the army HQ camp in Yundum, soldiers could be seen lining up the main road after work in the afternoon, hoping to hitchhike.
Some kilometres away from the army HQ camp, sights of soldiers in streams with bags strapped on the back, were also common in Bakau and the Independence Stadium area of the coastal town.
Bakau is the home of the 3 Infantry Battalion, which also has the Gambia Army Training School.
The country’s military chief alongside the defense minister were recently on a tour of military installations across the country.
However as they toured the country, soldiers and officers were lining up at breakfast stalls in the capital as food situation in the army deteriorates.
Another nerve-wracking issue confronting soldiers in some part of the country is lodging.
Some are still seeking shelter outside the barracks as there are not enough rooms for all of them to live in the cantonments.
The military chief General Yakubu Drammeh made some promises to the soldiers and officers as he crisscrossed the country.
During the past dispensations of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara and Sheikh Prof. Alhaji Dr. Yahya A. J. J Jammeh meantime, feeding, lodging and transport were not big problems for the military as it obtains.
